Asia Minute: Australia’s Homeless Population Increasing

Hawai‘i remains the state with the highest per capita rate of homelessness in the country. In Australia, the numbers are nearly as bad—and the situation is getting worse. It’s getting more attention right now because this is National Homelessness Week in Australia.

Listen

Listening...

/

1:23

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says 51 of every 10,000 people in Hawai‘i are homeless. Australia’s numbers are now almost exactly the same – 50 homeless people for every 10,000 residents.

Census figures show the overall number of homeless people in Australia grew by 14-percent from 2011 to 2016.

The AustralianAssociated Pressreports that over the same period, federal spending on housing and homelessness fell by 16-percent. Nearly a third of the homeless in Australia are under the age of 25. Some populations are more vulnerable — including immigrants, indigenous people, and the elderly.

Conditions are worse in some of the big cities. The state of New South Wales, where Sydney is located has seen its homeless numbers go up by more than a third between the last two census surveys.

It’s evolved into an awareness week held in August because that’s winter time in Australia, generally the coldest month of the year, when homeless people are most likely to be overcome by the elements.

Related Content

There are many ways to measure the impact of high housing prices in a community. In Hawaii and other states there is the annual point in time count of homeless on the streets and in shelters. But there are other measurements — including an unusual one that has developed in Hong Kong.

It happens every day, all over the world. Women return to the workplace following maternity leave. It can be a difficult transition, and it can be a bit more complicated if your other full-time job is running a country.

Reports have surfaced this week that one of Japan’s leading medical schools changed the test scores of women applying for admission. An investigation shows the practice started nearly a decade ago — with the aim of suppressing the number of women who become doctors.